I managed to snatch seat 10K, a window seat in the first row of economy comfort, while checking-in online the day before the trip. I was able to get this seat in economy comfort for free thanks to my new Platinum status (Normally, one would have had to pay €160 extra just to sit there on this flight to San Francisco!). Anyway, seat 10K was actually the second best seat for me on this flight. The best one would have been seat 10A because it would provide a bird’s eye view of San Francisco upon landing but that seat had already been taken, damn! Haha 😛 .

Checking in for my flight KL 605

Long story short, I arrived at Schiphol and checked my luggage in, upon which I also got a paper boarding pass. I waited for the flight at the KLM Crown Lounge and then went to the gate about 20 minutes before boarding time. The flight today would be operated with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner reg PH-BHD which KLM named “Bougainville”.

KLM’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner reg PH-BHD was ready to go to SFO

As you could see in the photo above, the weather at Schiphol today was not at the best condition. After all passengers at the gate boarded, the captain informed us that we were not given the green light to depart yet because we were still waiting for some connecting passengers whose coming flights to Amsterdam were delayed due to Schiphol’s current limited runway capacity. And so we had to sit in the plane for about an hour before we were finally given the permission to go. We took off from runway 24 and PH-BHD turned northwest towards California.

Finally taking off from runway 24 of AMS

Let’s start with the seat. KLM configured their Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with the 3-3-3 layout in economy. This layout was actually fine. But to me, the “problem” was, just about two weeks prior I was flying a Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 777-300ER which Garuda also configured with the 3-3-3 layout (While many other airlines, including KLM, chose to configure their Boeing 777s with the 3-4-3 layout). However, a Boeing 777-300ER was a bigger airplane, hence wider cabin, than a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. I guess because of this, somehow PH-BHD’s cabin felt a little bit “crammed” to me, haha.

A KLM Dreamliner selfie

Anyway, shortly after take-off, a snack and drink service was provided. The snack was a delicious roasted almond and I chose to pair it with white wine, haha. After the snack service, the flight attendants distributed the warm tissues service, a typical KLM’s long-haul service in economy which was really nice IMO.

I then started to watch the classic movie The Graduate at the AVOD IFE. Speaking of the AVOD, I wasn’t that much impressed with the content (in terms of movies and songs) this time, unfortunately. Though, perhaps the fact that there had been not a lot of new movies which excited me in the past several months might play a role in this too, haha.

The lunch service on board KLM flight KL605

The lunch service was provided not long after; with the choice being a vegetarian or a meatball dish. Obviously I opted for the meatball one, haha 😛 . And it was good!

Just after lunch, the map showed that we were already flying above … Greenland! I was of course excited about this and looked out the window! Greenland was, unlike its name, fully white as it was covered with snow and ice, haha.

Greenland, which looked more white than green to me.

PH-BHD then continued to fly towards Canada, upon which an ice cream snack service was provided. After finishing The Graduate, I decided to watch a second movie, Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2. And also, I tried KLM’s wifi which were available on their Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. The wifi access was based on data instead of time, which was a factor I did not really like. But in terms of price, I thought their pricing was fair enough, even though a few times I had small problems with the connectivity.

Btw, as usual in a long-haul KLM flight, the flight attendants went on many rounds around the cabin bringing a tray of drinks for the passengers, which was, of course, such a very nice service! More snacks were also available at the galley. As we were entering the United States air space, the late lunch service was provided, which was also tasty.

The late lunch service on board KLM flight KL605

Long story short, at around 1 PM local time we started our descent towards San Francisco International Airport. We were not able to recover from our departure delay, though; and so we still arrived in San Francisco about one hour behind schedule. At 1:28 PM, we landed at runway 28L of San Francisco International Airport, here is the landing video:

PH-BHD parked at the International Terminal where I saw Emirates’, Japan Airlines’, Korean Air’s, Air France’s, and Aeromexico’s planes. Our delay meant that we arrived after all these airlines resulting in: very long lines at immigration! 😖 I had to wait for more than an hour before clearing immigration! And so when I arrived at the baggage area, my bag was already waiting for me nicely there, haha.

I exited the terminal and went to the BART station to take the train to Downtown San Francisco. And here, my two weeks vacation in California started!!

My routing this time was (almost) a carbon copy of my trip back to Europe from my Indonesia Summer Trip back in 2015. The only differences were that (1) Instead of taking flight GA213 from Yogyakarta to Jakarta, I took flight GA211, (2) Instead of Terminal 2, Garuda Indonesia already moved to the brand new Terminal 3 Ultimate in Jakarta, and (3) This time I was entitled the SkyPriority benefits with my KLM status; I hadn’t reached that status yet back in August 2015. Anyway, let the trip report begin!

The route map this year was a carbon copy of my 2015 trip. Created with gcmap.com

After checking-in at the SkyPriority desk, I went to Garuda Indonesia Executive Lounge at the airport. This was my second visit to this small lounge this year, after the first time being earlier this year during my trip back to Amsterdam via Bali, Shanghai, and Paris, haha. Unlike that other time, the lounge was very busy this time around.

The Garuda Indonesia Executive Lounge at Adisutjipto Airport.

Anyway, my flight to Jakarta today would be operated with a Boeing 737-800 reg PK-GNG which had Boeing Sky Interior! From Flightradar24 I knew beforehand that the flight would be slightly delayed, though.

A Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 737-800 reg PK-GNG at Adisutjipto Airport

Long story short, I went to the gate and was the first passenger to board, haha 😛 . I settled onto my comfortable 21K seat in the first row of economy. After all passengers boarded, we departed and took off from runway 27 of Adisutjipto Airport. See you, Yogyakarta!

See you, Jogja!

Overall it was a pleasant, regular, short-haul flight with Garuda Indonesia. A snack service was distributed short after take-off. I used the AVOD IFE to listen to some music. And as it was an afternoon flight, I spent most of my time also starring out of the window, haha 😛 . About 45 minutes later, we were already on descent to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and the flight attendants prepared for landing.

Not long after, we landed at runway 25L of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the farther runway from Terminal 3 Ultimate meaning the taxiing to the stand would be quite long, haha. Anyway, here is the landing video:

Transiting at Terminal 3 Ultimate

It happened that my arrival gate at Jakarta was at the far end of the domestic side of the terminal. Having an international connection made me realize the gigantic size of Terminal 3 Ultimate. I basically had to walk down almost the entire 1.2 km length of the terminal to get to my connecting gate! Haha 😛 .

White wine at the Garuda Lounge

Anyway, long story short I cleared security and immigration; and then I went to Garuda Indonesia’s International Lounge at the brand new terminal. The lounge appeared to be smaller than its domestic counterpart (see Part II). It a was nice and comfortable lounge with good food and drink selection. As it was an international lounge, white and red wine were also available at the bar section. The wifi connection was also especially fast for Indonesian standard.

Yes, PK-GII, i.e. Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 777-300ER which was in SkyTeam Livery!! 😍 It would be my first time ever catching a Garuda bird in this special alliance colour!

Boarding started a little bit late. I was amongst the first passengers to board and settled onto my comfortable 21K seat. This flight to Singapore made me notice the cost-cutting effort the Garuda management has tried to impose to remain competitive. For once, there was no welcome drink in economy like what I got two years ago on this very same flight, haha.

Boarding screen

Anyway, even after boarding completed, we could not depart because we were still waiting for some documents to be completed. This caused a delay of about 30 minutes. And then of course once we actually departed, we had to face the typical long queue for take-off at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. In the end, we could only take off at 21:25 while our scheduled departure time was 20:30.

Waiting on my 21K seat

We took off from runway 25R and made a turn towards Singapore. Not too long after take-off, the dinner service was provided. The choices were beef lasagna or chicken with noodles. I opted for the first along with wine wine and water as my drink of choice. I found the lasagna to be okay. During this time, I also watched two episodes of The Big Bang Theory, haha…

Beef lasagna for dinner and The Big Bang Theory

About an hour later we started our approach towards Singapore Changi Airport and then landed at runway 02C. Here is the landing video:

It was quite a long taxi towards Terminal 3. Transit passengers were told to disembark the plane and the transit time would be one hour.

Transiting at Changi Airport

Another clear cost-cutting effort was the now non-existence of transit stuffies in Singapore. Two years ago, I got a snack box and a S$30 voucher for shopping at Changi. This year, I got nothing! Haha 😛 . And so I just went to the Information Kiosk to get a wifi password before immediately going to the gate to wait for boarding.

No transit stuffies this time around.

Anyway, technically, the next flight would be a fifth freedom flight as I would be flying a Garuda Indonesia flight from Singapore to the Netherlands! An aspect which I was quite excited about because it would be my only fifth freedom flight this year.

Upon boarding, I found out that my neighbouring two seats were taken by a young couple with a baby! Because my seat was a window seat, I immediately realized that the spaciousness I previously got from my 21K seat would be heavily compromised. After take-off, a baby basinet would be installed occupying most of that space. While this was certainly a discomfort to me, this was actually indeed the “risk” of picking this seat, haha. Of course I could not “win” all the time.

The safety demo

Anyway, long story short we departed after boarding finished. It was almost a full flight to Amsterdam today, with a load factor of at least 95% in economy, which was really impressive IMO! We took off from runway 02L and headed northwest towards Europe.

Another round of dinner service (with the same options) was served not long after take-off. I was still feeling full so I declined the service and only asked for a glass of guava juice, haha. During this time, we were flying above Aceh, not too far away (I guess) from where Cyclone “Dahlia” was the day before. As a result, we faced some not-so-light turbulences, haha.

There were turbulences in this area.

In the meantime, I tried to sleep because I was feeling really sleepy. As a matter of fact, I actually could sleep for about six hours, which was quite impressive for my standard! It also happened that I slept during the part of the flight along the turbulence area, haha. Btw somewhere along the way, the in-between-fuel service was served, which was a salmon sandwich.

The in-between fuel service

I woke up when we were already somewhere above the Turkish airspace. I was quite awake already that I knew trying to go back to sleep would be a futile attempt, haha. So I watched several more episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

About two hours before landing, the breakfast service started. The options were between omelette and chicken with rice; I opted for the latter. To accompany my breakfast, I was torn to watch either Hidden Figures or Trinity, the Nekad Traveller, haha 😛 . Thinking that it would be difficult for me to watch an Indonesian movie in the Netherlands, I chose he latter 😛 .

Chicken and rice for breakfast.

Anyway at around 7:15 local time we were already on approach to Schiphol Airport. It was still dark outside when the flight attendants were preparing for landing:

And not too long after, we landed at runway 18C of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Here is the landing video:

PK-GII then parked at gate G5. We disembarked and I cleared immigration. It was awesome that my luggages were delivered at the belt exactly by the time I reached the luggage area! This was certainly because of my SkyTeam Elite Plus status! My luggages were tagged with priority labels so I got to “avoid” the problem of long waiting for luggages at Schiphol! 😛

Anyway, then I took the train to Amsterdam Centraal; and here my November 2017 Indonesia Trip officially ended.

I chose Garuda Indonesia’s non-stop Amsterdam – Jakarta flight GA89 to get to Indonesia this time. This was actually my third time flying this route, as the first two times were three and two years ago, both during the summer.

Starting in late October, Garuda Indonesia operated their Amsterdam route exclusively with their two-class Boeing 777-300ER, a news which I liked because it meant the possibility for me to add new registrations into my logbook. And it turned out I was lucky because Garuda deployed PK-GIK to Amsterdam for my flight today! Aside from being a new registration for me, PK-GIK was also Garuda’s newest Boeing 777-300ER! Yay!

A Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 777-300ER reg PK-GIK was on its way to Amsterdam. A screenshot from flightradar24.com

Anyway I left my apartment to arrive at Schiphol just in time before check-in opened. Thanks to my SkyTeam Elite Plus status from Air France/KLM, I could block a seat in the first row of economy class for free (Otherwise I would have had to pay US$80 extra one way for this seat. Yay! 😀 ). I also checked-in my luggage (which I got 50 kg allowance thanks to my status 😛 ) and got my boarding pass. As usual, then I cleared security and immigration, and waited for the flight at KLM’s Crown Lounge.

I went to the gate a little bit too early, where PK-GIK wasn’t even towed to the gate yet when I arrived there, haha. Long story short, boarding commenced a little bit late and I settled onto my 21K seat. The seat was very comfortable as I got two windows for myself, ample of leg room (for economy standard), and basically free access to the aisle due to the legroom. As a result, I would not need to bother my seatmates whenever I wanted to “go out” of my seat throughout the flight! The first thing I did after sitting down, however, was to charge my phone via the USB port attached to the seat. Haha 😛

My seat 21K on PK-GIK

Charging my phone

I observed the flight was quite full today; while the load factor was certainly not at 100%, I estimated it would be somewhere around 70-80%; not too bad in my opinion considering PK-GIK being configured in two-class, meaning significant increase in capacity in economy class. After the doors were closed, we departed from the gate. The safety demo was played and the flight attendants distributed mineral water. At 16:09, we took off from runway 24 of Schiphol under the rainy Dutch Fall weather.

Taking off from runway 24 of Schiphol during rain

Just after take-off, a snack service was provided which consisted of a bag of peanuts and the flight attendants went another round to distributed the amenity kits, which consisted of a pair of socks, a pair of ear plug, and an eye pad (which is quite a “luxury” in long-haul economy class as not all airlines provided these! Garuda, you rock!).

A mandatory selfie because I paid for the wifi

I decided to purchase the wifi access for the duration of the flight, which price I found fair enough. The cabin was then dimmed with purple mood lighting and the purser announced the planned service throughout the flight. The sun set not long after take-off, probably when we were already somewhere above Czech Republic, thus providing me with this beautiful view from my window:

A sunset view

About an hour after take-off, the dinner service was provided. The choice was chicken with rice or beef with potatoes. I opted for the latter where the beef was served in mustard sauce and potato wedges, which was delicious. I accompanied the dinner with Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them which I watched at the AVOD screen. I started to feel sleepy after the dinner and the movie; but then I made a “mistake” by going to the lavatory which for whatever reason made me “awake” again, lol 😆 .

The complimentary dinner service on board flight GA89

Nonetheless, I decided to try to sleep anyway by wearing my eye pad, though unfortunately it ended with no avail. Some light snacks (chips, energy bars, and peanuts) were served in the galley, btw. And about eight hours into the flight, the in-between fuel service, in the form of chocolate muffin, was served. The flight attendants were also very attentive. I was wearing my eye pad trying to sleep during the service, so she quietly placed two (!) muffins and a mineral water on my tray (which I intentionally left open as a place holder) without me noticing!

The in-between fuel service: chocolate muffin

I was able to sleep for about an hour after that, and I woke up when we were already above the Bay of Bengal. I noticed the light was already out outside so I peeked out the window and got the following beautiful morning view:

A morning view above the Bay of Bengal

At this point, I decided I would not sleep anymore as we were already approaching Indonesia anyway. So I turned on the AVOD and watched Despicable Me 3, haha. It was a nice coincidence btw that I watched Despicable Me 2 also on board flight GA89 to Indonesia two years ago! 😛

The flight entered Indonesia from the north of Sabang, then passed Lake Toba down along the island of Sumatra to Jakarta. During this time, the breakfast service was provided where the options was a chicken frittata or beef with yellow rice. I opted for the latter which was quite delicious too!

The breakfast service on board flight GA89

At about 11 AM, the flight started its descend towards Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and the cabin crews prepared for landing.

Earlier the first officer mentioned we would land at runway 25R, but eventually we landed at runway 07R of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Here is the landing video:

PK-GIK then had to make the long taxi all the way to Terminal 3 Ultimate. I was quite excited about this because it would be my first time ever using this brand new terminal! Haha 😛 . I got off from PK-GIK and entered the arrival area, which turned out to be just an alley leading to immigration and the arrival hall.

Speaking of immigration, upon check-in at Schiphol I was given the following card:

A Fast Track card

thanks to my SkyTeam Elite Plus status. Yep, a “Fast Track” card so I could use the priority lane at immigration in Jakarta! It was quite helpful as there were a few international arrivals at around the same time! Yeay Garuda! 😀

I went on an Avgeek Weekend Trip this weekend which was very interesting as it involved an Air France’s brand new (not even a month old) Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. And here is the story of this fun weekend trip I just had.

The routing this weekend. Created with: gcmap.com

So as you know the routing this time was Amsterdam – Paris-CDG – London-Heathrow and back. And so I have decided to skip the Amsterdam – Paris-CDG vv part because I have flown this route so many times, haha. I would just go as far as saying that I flew an Air France’s Airbus A320-200 reg F-GKXL and a KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGW on these two flights.

An Air France’s Airbus A320-200 F-GKXL

A KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGW.

Paris – CDG, Terminal 2E Hall K

After arriving in Paris, I checked the transfer monitor and learned that my connecting flight to London would depart from Hall K of Terminal 2E. So I followed the signage to this hall, which was at the other side of Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport’s Terminal 2. I cleared immigration as well during this transfer, which was really a breeze because there was noone else, haha 😛 .

At Hall K, I immediately went to the Air France’s lounge there. I just realized that this was actually my first time at a non-Schengen Air France Lounge at Paris-CDG Airport! Haha 😛 . The lounge was really spacious, much more spacious than the two lounges at Terminal 2F, though the offering was pretty much the same.

Salon Air France at Terminal 2E Hall K

About an hour before departure, I left the lounge to look for the gate. Though I was travelling via Paris-CDG a lot, this was actually just my second time using its Hall K (the first time was when I was catching my Japan Airlines flight to Tokyo-Narita 2.5 years ago), so I wasn’t that familiar with this hall. The interior design of Paris – CDG Terminal 2E’s Hall K was really beautiful, btw. However, it was clearly not designed for avgeeks because it was very difficult to take pictures of the planes parked at this hall! Haha 😛

Anyway, my flight to London today would be operated with an Air France’s Airbus A320-200 reg F-GKXJ, which was plastered with a Paris 2024 sticker. F-GKXJ was actually parked at the gate next to the Air France Lounge and so I knew that this plane had been sitting there for quite some time. I guess due to the importance of its London-Heathrow route (London-Heathrow is considered as one of the most “premium” airports, in terms of the type of passengers it attracts, in the industry), Air France wouldn’t want to take the risk of any of its London-Heathrow flights being delayed; and so the long on-the-ground time.

An Air France’s Airbus A320-200 F-GKXJ with Paris 2024 sticker

Long story short, I boarded the plane and sat at my 6A seat in the first row of economy today. Not too long after, the push back began and the flight departed. We took off from runway 08L of Paris-CDG and headed northwest towards London. It was a short flight so the complimentary snack service was provided right away.

A flight to London-Heathrow wouldn’t be complete without the plane having to make a few turns above London before being allowed to land, haha. Unfortunately there was some cloud hanging above the city today so I couldn’t really see anything. Anyway, at 19:14 local time we landed at runway 27R of London-Heathrow Airport.

The last and only other time I was entering the UK via Heathrow was more than four years ago, haha. And I, sort of, forgot the possible inconvenience of entering London via this popular airport: a really long line at immigration!! The line was so long that I remembered the last time I encountered a line at least this “bad” was when I arrived in New York from Mexico City almost two years ago! While I wasn’t spending 90 minutes just for queuing this time (it was closer to 45 I think), it made me think that the next time I would travel to London, it would be better to arrive at London City Airport! Haha 😛

Rump steak for dinner

Anyway, I spent a night at a hotel nearby the airport today, where I also had my rump steak dinner.

The next morning, I checked out just before 7 AM to catch my 9:45 AM flight back to Paris. I already had my mobile boarding pass so I headed straight to security. The officer noticed the “Sky Priority” tag in my boarding pass and informed me that this allowed me to use the VIP security lane. Yeay! I didn’t have to queue with this lane and I cleared security in less than two minutes, haha.

The entrance to the SkyTeam Lounge at Heathrow

Once in the departure area, I looked for the SkyTeam Lounge at the airport. You see, London-Heathrow is not a SkyTeam airport but its importance means that a lot of SkyTeam airlines are using it. So to cater this, SkyTeam invests in a lounge at the airport’s Terminal 4, where most SkyTeam airlines fly to (Strangely, Garuda Indonesia operates from Terminal 3 despite it being a SkyTeam member).

The entrance to the lounge was quite small but the lounge itself was actually quite spacious, as it had two floors! I went to the upstairs area because the attendant told me breakfast was served there. The breakfast was actually quite decent with a selection of English or continental all you can eat breakfast. The design of the lounge itself was also really cool and looked so much better than the overall “outdated” feel of Terminal 4 of Heathrow, haha.

I was very excited when I saw in my Flightradar24 app that my flight today would be operated with F-HRBC, Air France’s newest Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that wasn’t even one month old! Unfortunately, the flight used Gate 2 today which was a horrible gate at the terminal because it was impossible to take a good picture of the plane! Haha 😛

The regular economy cabin was actually quite comfortable with good seat pitch and Air France’s newest IFE (Air France Touch). After all passengers boarded, the flight departed and the very chic safety demo was played on the IFE.

Anyway, a departure from London-Heathrow wouldn’t also be complete without experiencing its traffic jam for take-off, haha. The departure runway this morning was runway 27R so we had to taxi for quite some distance there, and we encountered quite a traffic jam as we were nearing the runway. This doesn’t happen that often at Schiphol or Paris-CDG, and reminded me of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta! Haha 😛 .

Traffic jam at Heathrow

Long story short, we finally took off and began our short hop to Paris-CDG. As in flight AF1180, the service began immediately after take-off. A Boeing 787-9 was a much bigger plane than an Airbus A320 so I could imagine the flight attendants must be feeling some kind of time pressure for the service, and they did a really great job! Overall it was a very pleasant and smooth flight with Air France’s F-HRBC. At 12:07 local time, we landed at runway 26R of Paris-CDG Airport.

Air France’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner F-HRBC at Paris-CDG

The plane parked at Terminal 2E Hall L. Then I cleared security and immigration to transfer to Terminal 2F to catch my last flight of this trip back to Amsterdam with KLM.

At first, I didn’t plan to write a self-standing post of the trip. But I changed my mind after the experiences I had during the trip, which actually made the trip unique enough for a self-standing post. Anyway, this post is the self-standing post and let just the story begin…

To save some budget, I chose KLM’s 09:20 flight to Oslo (the 11:50 would have been better schedule-wise, but it was also much more expensive). Consequently, I had to depart from home quite early. And I departed a bit too early, actually, where I arrived at the tram stop some 20 minutes before the scheduled service! (I should have checked the transportation app indeed, so it was my fault).

A KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGQ which would take me to Oslo today.

Long story short, I arrived at Schiphol, waited and had my breakfast at KLM’s Crown Lounge, and boarded the plane: a KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGQ. The flight itselft was a pleasant regular intra-European flight with KLM. I sat next to (I assume) a professor who was working on his grant proposal and was so into his work that he refused all the KLM service provided on his flight, haha.

Anyway, as I said in the teaser post, I was lucky that I was sitting on a window seat in the left side of the plane and the flight was landing at runway 01L. This provided me with a really cool bird’s eye view of the city of Oslo!

Oslo, not Solo!

Oslo-Gardermoen Airport

I have been to Oslo before, just a little over two years ago, actually. But somehow, I didn’t remember Oslo-Gardermoen Airport to be as good and cool as I encountered during this trip! Seriously, I found the terminal building to be really beautiful, one of the most beautiful one in Europe that I have been to!

Oslo-Gardermoen Airport

Anyway, one reason why I said KLM’s 11:50 flight would have been better scheduled-wise was that now, I had an almost six hours of transit, haha. I didn’t feel like going to the city of Oslo, so I was “stuck” at the (beautiful) airport. Though, I wasn’t worried at all as I knew that Air France/KLM had a cooperation with a lounge at the airport. The lounge was the OSL Lounge, located pretty much next to SAS’ business lounge.

OSL Lounge at Gardermoen Airport

The lounge itself was actually quite good! It wasn’t the most spacious lounge in terms of space, but the service and facilities were quite nice. There were quite some selections of drink and (typical lounge) food. The seats were generally comfortable as well. There was a row of three or four recliner chairs which I settled myself onto one of them. The chairs were quite old, actually, but they still worked fine and were still quite comfortable.

I boarded my second flight today at around 16:10. It was an Air France flight that was operated by HOP! Regional’s Embraer ERJ190 reg F-HBLE. I sat on my 3F seat in the 2-2 configured plane which was super comfortable today because the seat next to me was vacant, yeay! Haha 😆 Long story short, the plane departed and took off from runway 01L of Oslo-Gardermoen Airport.

Taking off from runway 01L of OSL with HOP! Regional’s Embraer 190

Not long after take-off, the snack service was provided. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that the service standard was higher than the other regular intra-European Air France flights I had taken before. First of all, there were actually options for the sandwich service (chicken or vegetarian sandwich). And second of all, rosé wine was available as one of the wine options! Options and rosé wine were something I had never encountered in short-haul intra-European Air France flights before!

The service on board flight AF1375 from Oslo to Paris. Rosé wine was available and there were chicken or vegetable choices for the sandwich!

I tried to figure out the reason behind this. And then, it hit me that this AF1375 was actually my first intra-European flight with Air France (though operated by HOP! Regional) that was blocked for more than two hours one-way (its scheduled departure time was 16:45 with arrival time of 19:10, making it a 2 hours 25 minutes flight). I knew KLM had different level of service for flights below and above two-hours block, so it was not surprising that Air France appeared to have one too!

Aside from that, it was a pleasant regular flight with Air France and at 18:50, we landed at runway 26L of Paris – Charles De Gaulle Airport. The plane parked at Terminal 2G so I had to take the transfer bus to Terminal 2F.

After a super quick dinner at Salon Air France at Terminal 2F, I boarded my KLM flight back to Amsterdam today, that was a Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGN flight KL1246, Air France/KLM’s last flight to Amsterdam from Paris. This was actually a pleasant regular short-haul flight with KLM so there was not much to tell from the flight itself.

However, though, from my side I encountered an “interesting” experience. Suddenly just after the snack service began, I started to feel a terrible stomachache where I needed to go to a toilet soon. But then, it was already halfway through the flight (which was a short one anyway) and the flight attendants were still very busy in the aisle distributing the service. On top of that, I was sitting on a window seat with both the aisle and middle seats next to me taken. And so I thought that it was a short flight anyway so we would land at Schiphol soon and in the meantime I could just “hold” it, haha.

A KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGN which brought me back to Amsterdam today.

But then, as I suspected as it was an evening flight and was the worst scenario for my situation, we landed at the friggin’ Polderbaan! Damn!! So we had to taxi for another like 15 minutes before arriving at Pier D of Schiphol. Even then, it turned out that the nearest toilet to the gate was under maintenance at the time! Well, talking about my “luck” this evening😅.

In the last weekend of August, I went on an AvGeek Weekend Trip with the main purpose of flying an Air France’s brand new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on their short domestic Lyon – Paris-CDG sector. I actually took four flights on this trip (Amsterdam – Paris-CDG – Lyon vv). However, as the other three flights were just regular short-haul flights with Air France and KLM, in this post I will only focus on the trip’s main star, that was the flight with the Dreamliner.

After having breakfast at my hotel near the airport (the breakfast was great, btw), I went to the airport to check-in and retrieve my boarding pass. Then, I cleared the security check and waited for my flight at Lyon Airport’s underwhelming Air France lounge. I checked my Flightradar24 app to see which of the two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Air France would use on their domestic Lyon route today. I saw F-HRBB was leaving for London-Heathrow already so I figured it would be F-HRBA.

An Air France’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner reg F-HRBA at Lyon Airport.

Long story short, at about 09:30 AM, F-HRBA landed at Lyon Airport and parked at the gate. Not long after, boarding commenced. I walked to the plane with excitement (haha) and settled onto my 10A seat in the Premium Economy cabin. Ah, yes, I was given a Premium Economy seat on this flight.

It appeared to me that the flight was full. All seats in Business and Premium Economy were occupied, and I also saw a lot of passengers boarding to the Economy Class section. So as a result, boarding took some time to complete, haha. Meanwhile, of course I started to play around with the AVOD screen and selected some music for the short duration of the flight. Being the newest member of the fleet, obviously the AVOD PTV was Air France’s newest “Air France Touch”, the same one as what I found on my Boeing 777-300ER flight AF 117 from Shanghai to Paris earlier this year.

Bienvenue à bord

I tell you, it was so much fun to be able to use an AVOD PTV on an intra-European flight, let alone a European domestic flight! Haha 😆 . After boarding was completed, the door was closed and the plane was pushed back for departure. Obviously, the safety demo wasn’t done manually. Air France’s super chic and “so French” safety demo video was played on the screen:

Btw, this Air France’s safety demo video is one of my most favorite safety demo videos, btw. As you can see, it is so “French”, for instance stating that your seatbelt is not only for your safety, it also “elegantly highlights your waistline“, huahaha 😆 . And the general ambience of the video is so “French” with all the elegance and everything!

Taking off from runway 17R of Lyon Airport with an Air France’s Dreamliner

Anyway, we taxied to runway 17R and took off from there before making a u-turn north towards Paris. Overall, it was a really smooth flight with a Dreamliner. Not long after take-off, the snack service was distributed. It was just the standard Economy Class snack service, though; pretty much the service I would expect in Air France’s Premium Economy anyway.

The snack service on board the short-haul domestic Lyon – Paris route flight AF 7641 with a Dreamliner.

A feature of Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the super cool dimming window. And obviously I could also find this feature on F-HRBA!! Yep, no window shades were needed anymore as the windows could change their color and transparency!

I only used the AVOD PTV for the music (btw, the seat came with a noise-cancelling headphone, which was good!) and the super cool moving map; as I was constrained by the short duration of the flight. I also saw a wifi onboard sign even though I didn’t bother to check it, haha. Anyway, overall it was such a nice flight with an Air France’s Dreamliner!

An Air France Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Premium Economy selfie

Time flew by when you were having fun. Suddenly, we were approaching Paris already, haha 😆 . We made a quick “tour” above Paris, though, where I could see the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, and the famous Champs-Élysées from above. Really cool!! Anyway, we landed at runway 08R of Paris – Charles De Gaulle Airport. Here is the landing video:

The plane parked at a gate in Terminal 2E, Charles De Gaulle’s non-Schengen terminal as it would serve flight AF 334 to Montreal, Canada later today. But that meant that the domestic passengers from Lyon would somehow need to be transported to Terminal 2F. For that, they took us with buses, haha.

After arriving at Terminal 2F, I went to an Air France’s Schengen lounge to wait for my KLM flight back to Amsterdam.

F-HRBA arriving from Paris

My Premium Economy 10A seat on board F-HRBA

Amazing legroom in Premium Economy

The safety card of Air France’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Two windows for myself in Premium Economy

Dreamliner’s raked wingtip

Business Class’ lavatory

Air France Touch’s super cool map

Dimming window controller

Extending my seat

The Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, and Champs-Élysées

An Air France’s Airbus A380-800 taking off from runway 08L of Paris-CDG

I was quite excited for this trip because it would be the first time I flew on a non-Schengen flight out of Schiphol since September 2016 when I flew to Sint Maarten! Haha 😆 . This also meant that I hadn’t used KLM’s non-Schengen Crown Lounge since then. I just realized though that I liked the Schengen lounge better actually.

Anyway, obviously I chose a KLM flight to get to London-City; and what excited me even more was the flight would be operated with one of the two Avro RJ85s they leased from CityJet! Yep, Avro RJ85! The cute regional jet with four engines!!

Boarding was slightly delayed today, but it went on quite smoothly. After all passengers boarded, however, the captain announced that due to a congestion on the departure runway (due to bad weather in Amsterdam today), we were only cleared to depart in 20 minutes. But not long after, the captain announced that the Polderbaan was open for departure and if he agreed to use this runway, we could depart now. He thought the long taxi there was better than sitting in the tarmac for 20 minutes doing nothing, haha; and I fully agreed with him on this case. So there we went, another departure from Polderbaan! Haha 😆

Another departure from Polderbaan

Anyway, I loved flying the Avro RJ85. It was a small plane but was very stable on air; thus comfortable even though the 3-3 configuration felt a little bit “cramped” in my opinion for its fuselage size. As it was a flight operated for KLM, the snack service was as per KLM’s standard:

The snack service on board CityJet’s flight KL977

which was decent for a short 45 minutes. Having said that, the cabin crews were CityJet’s, even when the flight was operated for KLM. Well, at least they wore CityJet’s uniform.

An aspect I was excited for this particular flight was the landing. I was really, really hoping we would land at runway 09 of London-City Airport. The view while landing there would be spectacular as the plane would have to descend above the city of London along with the cool skyscrapers! This was one of the reasons why LCY was my favorite. I landed there in 2013 but didn’t take a video so I planned to do so this time, haha.

But then, as we were flying from the east, we kept descending and descending above the River Thames without making any turn. Then I realized that we were NOT landing at runway 09 but at runway 27 instead! DAMN!!! Damn you wind direction!! Here is the landing video at runway 27:

Well, I guess this means I would need to fly to London City again in the future? Hahaha 😆 .

Anyway, another reason why I loved London City Airport was its small and compact size. A small airport meant short taxi and quick line at immigration (and baggage belt). I got off the airport in, like, literally less than 20 minutes since EI-RJU touched down at runway 27.

Deboarding at London City Airport from this CityJet’s Avro RJ 85 reg EI-RJU.

KL994 (LCY-AMS)

To go back to Amsterdam, I chose a KLM flight that was operated by KLM Cityhopper. Btw, KLM’s mainline Boeing 737 fleet cannot fly to London City Airport because the airport is too small for them. The runway length is just 1,508 meter; that is only around 2/3 of, say, the length of Adisutjipto Airport’s runway in Yogyakarta.

It was a small airport and unfortunately SkyTeam did not have a lounge partner there. But the general waiting area was nonetheless comfortable, especially that I scored a seat by the window which had electrical plugs and free wifi and offered this view:

Boarding today was, unfortunately, quite chaotic. I found it weird actually that given the high frequency of KLM flights between London City and Amsterdam (up to 7 times daily on a weekday), there was no SkyPriority sign and line to help the boarding process. Sure SkyPriority passengers were announced to board first but it was basically useless as there was no actual line and in reality passengers standing closer to the gate would board first anyway.

A KLM Cityhopper’s Embraer ERJ190 reg PH-EZF

Btw, when scanning my mobile boarding pass, the scanner notified the boarding agent that, apparently, I had been upgraded to Europe Business Class! YESSS!!! Haha 😆 . I was moved from my original 9F seat to 1D and was given a new boarding pass. The downside of this, though, was that I no longer had a window seat 😞. Anyway, so I boarded PH-EZF, a KLM Cityhopper’s Embraer ERJ190, and settled onto my 1D seat. And of course the legroom was amazing, haha 😆 .

Amazing legroom in Europe Business Class; row 1

It was literally a full flight today, i.e. the load factor in both economy and Europe business class were 100%. So I was intrigued with our take-off today given London City Airport’s short runway, haha. We took off from runway 27; and it turned out that a full Embraer ERJ190 didn’t always need the full 1,508 meter of runway length to take off.

Take off was quite bumpy today, as we were making a u-turn above the city of London (which beautiful view I couldn’t really see due to my aisle seat) towards Amsterdam. After the fasten seat belt sign was turned off, the flight attendant offered any drink to us, which I asked for a cup of green tea. She brought me my green tea and my dinner service. Upon which I also asked for a bottle of champagne, hahaha 😛.

The dinner service on board flight KL994 in Europe Business Class

To my delight, the dinner service today was different from the dinner service on board my previous KLM Europe Business Class flight just two weeks earlier. The main dish was salad with chicken teriyaki skewer and two pieces of warm bread which were really nice. A small cup of potato-salmon salad was also served as the appetizer along with a small cup of chocolate and caramel dessert. This dish kept me busy during the entire flight, where we had started our descent towards Schiphol when I finished it. Though, I still had about a third glass of champagne which I finished in one gulp (🙈) because the crews already had to prepare for landing, haha.

Anyway, we landed at runway 36R of Schiphol and it was not a long taxi to the Fokker Farm. We were taken by a bus to the terminal. I cleared immigration, and went back home to Amsterdam.